Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Letter to the Council

This evening I have written to the Council - to the planning officer Steve Irvine - having heard that they are refusing to give any consideration to previous objections. A copy of my letter is below.

"Dear Stephen,

I understand that you are the Planning Officer in relation to 2 Gladstone Place. As a local Bow resident I am writing to ask the Council to consider adjourning the planning application from the 2nd April Scrutiny and Development Committee.

I have recently come to understand that the Council is refusing to consider any objections from the previous duplicate planning application. I would firstly urge the Council to reconsider this stance. The application is a duplicate of the original application and has only been put through because of the threat of Judicial Review, and no other reason. To fail to count previous objections to the same application is utterly outrageous, and I ask the Council to reconsider this. This was not made clear when the planning application was resubmitted, and it is disengenuous to suggest that one cannot assume residents are no longer objecting. In fact, the fact that a local residents group has threatened and now brought judicial review action is, on the contrary, indicative that there remains very strong objections.

Secondly, given that it has only become clear recently (and after the formal consultation period ended) that there is to be no account given of the previous objections, the fair and just thing to do is to hear the planning application at the SDC after 2nd April, and to extend the time for objections, and tell residents that if they do not agree they must object again. That would be the honest thing to do.

I understand that the meeting on 2 April may have logistic difficulties, given the G20 summit, and the high likelihood of protesters in Canary Wharf, and the impact on transport may prevent residents from attending and raising their genuine concerns.

If the Council genuinely wants to hear this planning application fairly, rather than pushing through what appears to be a pre-judged decision without consultation, then the following steps should be taken:

* Hear the application at the next SDC after 2 April * Extend the consultation period * Allow all previous objections to be considered - it can safely be assumed that 90% (at least) remain in opposition. * Reconsider the decision to have an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)

A number of local residents have voiced to me their concerns about this ill-thought through planning application which appears to promise a Tesco (but with an inadequate s.106 agreement) to push through a development of over 200 flats, without considering properly the transport plans (articulated lorries down Cardigan Road and the loss of the car park leading to the inevitable downturn on Roman Road market), insignificant consideration being given to sunlight, PTAL figures changing over time, the height towering over the Conservation Area, and the design being out of character for the local area. I hope that this time the Council will listen.

To make it clear, I welcome a supermarket, but not at the costs to the local area that this development brings; what the residents of Bow need is long term sensible town planning for the Roman Road.

If you are not the appropriate person for me to raise these concerns with, please pass this e-mail onto who should be informed, or let me know and I will write to them directly.

No comments:

About Me

I am in the Chairman of Bow Conservatives, and a local resident. I have been involved with the Conservatives for a number of years and am the former Deputy Chairman for Conservative Future, in which I had responsibility for building our CF branches in our target seats. Outside politics, I am a barrister undertaking employment, landlord and tenant and criminal defence work.